We already know their athletes are bold. They are hosting a global atheist conference next year. And now, we can add their politicians to the list of Reasons Australia is Better than Your Country. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says he has concerns about the Church of Scientology but wants to see what material independent senator Nick Xenophon has before committing to a parliamentary inquiry. Senator Xenophon told Parliament today there was criminal activity within the church and has called for… Read more
August Berkshire is the atheist from Minnesota who wrote the really popular list of 34 Unconvincing Arguments for God, a list of arguments made by Christians which don’t hold a lot of water with atheists. His license plate also reads ATHEIST 🙂 He has just come out with an updated and revised list of The Problem of Evil: The Top 15 Excuses Religious People Give for the Horrible Behavior of their God. Here’s a brief explanation along with a couple… Read more
I mentioned a week ago that Liberty Counsel (a Christian group) put out their annual list of “Naughty & Nice” places to shop. “Naughty” were places that said things like “Happy Holidays.” “Nice” were placed that prominently displayed “Christmas” at the expense of everything else. The Gap is mentioned among the “Naughty” places. Gap – Web site: No mention of “Christmas.” Search revealed six non-Gap manufacturers? items that included “Christmas.” “Go Ho Ho” TV Commercial: Lighthearted but mentions several unrelated… Read more
The Boy Scouts of America will be honored by the U.S. Postal Service on a commemorative stamp to be released in the summer of 2010: I won’t be buying any of those, of course, because I don’t support groups that discriminate against atheists or gays. Unless… Is there any way to use this stamp against them? I would find it almost poetic if you could use a BSA stamp to send their headquarters your resignation form… if such a thing… Read more
There’s a new addition to the atheist advertisement club: the Portland Coalition of Reason! These words are part of a coordinated multi-organizational advertising campaign designed to raise awareness about people who don’t believe in a god. The King Size ad appears on ten buses traveling throughout the city. Their appearance will continue for at least a month. I always love reading the variety of member groups making up each coalition 🙂 Kudos to the Portland team for getting this together…. Read more
Dear Richard, I am a great admirer of the eloquent yet simple advice you give on Friendly Atheist. I have been “out” as an atheist for about one year now. I work in a Divinity Faculty, where I am surrounded by liberal, thoughtful, sophisticated religious believers, and recently I have been having thoughts about becoming an ordained minister in the Anglican Church. I feel that this job would give me personal fulfillment and allow me to do what I really… Read more
Inspired by 10-year-old Will Phillips’ refusal to stand during the Pledge of Allegiance, a slightly-older commenter said this: I am a High School student in Alaska. For years, I have stood up, but not recited the pledge. My reasons being some quite similar to Will Phillips’. When asked why I don’t recite the pledge, I tell them. I’ve always stood during the pledge, just because that’s what I was raised to do. Never once did I consider sitting down for… Read more
Several months ago, Dano Johnson (the director of the wonderful, animated version of Flatland) and I began to talk about making a video in support of the Secular Student Alliance. He volunteered his services at no charge and stuck with us even when we requested changes late in the game. I’ll spare you all the additional details that get discussed when this sort of video gets made 🙂 Needless to say, we had a lot of talks about the content… Read more
Will Phillips — the 10-year-old boy who won’t stand up for the Pledge of Allegiance because there is no “justice for all” for the GLBT community and so many others — was interviewed on CNN today. What an awesome kid. His parents are just setting the bar high for the rest of us who want children someday. (Thanks to everyone for the link!) Read more
After that amusing article which lacked an Oxford comma, there’s another story that highlights interesting usage of grammar. And atheists will appreciate it. Read this excerpt from an Associated Press article about the Catholics and their stance on clergy celibacy: Apparently seeking to squash any speculation that Rome had been courting the disaffected Anglicans, the Vatican said the “Holy Spirit” inspired Anglicans to “petition repeatedly and insistently to be received into full Catholic communion” individually and as a group. Do… Read more
